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So can we just talk about Disney’s Annual Pass Holder Preview of Galaxy’s Edge?

One of the coolest experiences I’ve had at Walt Disney World! I can’t believe OPENING DAY is almost here! It seems just like yesterday they were announcing the new land and now, in two days it will be open to the public!

Let’s be honest…I know absolutely nothing about Star Wars. {Ekk! Yes I know! Star Wars super fans, please don’t hate me.} Having no allegiance to a particular film and having no knowledge of the franchise, I still really enjoyed the new land.

When you enter Galaxy’s Edge you head to a Galaxy far, far away to the land of Batuu.

You will be greeted by Cast Members with the salutation “Bright Suns” or “Rising Moons.” Expect cast members to greet the day with a cheery “Bright suns!” In the evening, a more sedate “Rising moon.”

Once in Batuu there are three different villages guests can experience. The Castmembers in Galaxy’s Edge are residents of Batuu and are skilled at “staying in character.” If you ask them for things like, “Where is Toy Story Land” or ” Where can I get a Mickey Pretzel?” you will not get the answer you are looking for as they will remain in character and since they are residents of Batuu they have no knowledge of these things. If you spot a Cast Member roaming around, ask them a question and learn their story of how they arrived at Batuu. It is a full immersive experience.

The Market Place is an open-air collection of stores and restaurants in the center of Black Spire Outpost filled with “handmade” Star Wars merchandise.

Guests can build their own Droid at the Droid Depot. These customized droids start at about $100. Star Wars fans can also build their own Lightsabers at Savi’s Workshop. These handbuilt lightsabers offer guests the experience to assemble their own version of the iconic weapon for $199.99.

The cuisine in Galaxy’s Edge is very unique- you will not find Mickey Pretzels or Frozen Lemonade here. There are two quick service dining options in Batuu, Ronto Roasters and Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo. Ronto Roastersis a Marketplace restaurant offering grilled sausage and pork wraps. I had the Ronto Wrap, a pita filled with roasted pork, grilled pork sausage drizzled with a Peppercorn sauce and topped with tangy slaw. It was delicious! It’s a great value for $12.99 and easily filled me up.

Docking Bay 7 has a variety of food from around the galaxy. They offer Breakfast items as well as a full day menu. I just tried a dessert, the Batuu-Bon and oh my gosh y’all was it delicious! Melt in your mouth good! It was a chocolate cake, white chocolate mousse, coffee custard dessert. For $6.99 it was a stunning presentation and so yummy!

I didn’t make it to Oga’s Cantina for a cocktail or the Milk Standfor a legendary glass of Blue or Green Milk. I wanted to save both of those spots for when HeliHubby gets to go with me.

The ride has regular standby, Fast Pass and two Single rider lines which is fantastic! This is by far the most immersive, life like ride at Walt Disney World. A group of 6 guests board the Millennium Falcon and work together to fly it. Each rider as a duty while onboard the ship and depending on how your team works together will depend on how your flight experience goes. The best spot to be in is the Pilot- you have an up close, forward facing experience to the screen. The other four guests in your party have a blocked view of the screen and personally I found it really distracting that I had to look to my left or right to push buttons during flight. You have to watch for buttons to light up and you end up missing a lot of what is going on during the flight on the screen. It is so incredibly life like.

If you are a Star Wars fan or not, a visit to Galaxy’s Edge is a MUST! The land opens to the public in just TWO DAYS on August 29th. Guests staying on Walt Disney World property will have special Extra Magic Hours from September 1 to November 2 from 6-9 a.m.

Who’s going on Opening Day?

Thank you Disney for this fantastic preview experience! It is one for the books that I will never forget!

See You Real Soon!

We hope you’re enjoying your Newly Newlywed or Nearly Newlywed moments as much as we are!

Yay! It is here y’all…well it actually started last week, but TODAY was my first time visiting the festival this year.

I started the day at a VIP Pass Holder Playtime in Toy Story Land at Hollywood Studios. Ahhh-MAAAAZE-ING y’all! Don’t worry, I will be sharing all the details from one of the best Disney days I’ve ever had soon, but for now we are talking all about Food & Wine!

After riding all the rides at Hollywood Studios it was time for me to Park Hop! Frozen Ever After had a 20 minute wait, so I figured I’d make my way over to Epcot. Since today was my first time visiting the Park during this year’s Food & Wine Festival, I immediately headed over to the Festival Center to get my Annual Pass Holder Magnet.

Coincidence or perfect timing? I just happened to get to Epcot in time for lunch! Eating my way around the world it is! There are SO many choices y’all and I want to try them all!

I started my way around the World Showcase scoping out the various menus and Japan’ Teriyaki Chicken Bun sounded too good to pass up!

Oh my heavens y’all! The Teriyaki Chicken Bun was delicious! It’s a steamed bun filled with Chicken, Veggies and a Sweet Teriyaki Sauce. It is the perfect tasting portion and full of flavor. I highly recommend and would definitely consider getting it again during this year’s festival.

From Japan I continued on my journey around the World Showcase and stopped in the Good Ole’ US of A. Hops and Barley had one of my favorite eats at last year’s Festival. Naturally, I just had to have the New England Lobster Roll again this year!

So, so, so tasty! A griddled bun topped with warm lobster meat and a Fresh Herb Mayo. It literally melts in your mouth y’all. Its all delicious, but I LOVE the griddle bun. It is a perfect sized bite, although I wouldn’t complain if they made it bigger!

I am heading back to the Festival tomorrow for another VIP Event and looking forward to trying a few more dishes. Have you visited the festival this year? What are some of your favorite, MUST TRY dishes? I’d love to hear your recommendations!

See You Real Soon!

We hope you’re enjoying your Newly Newlywed or Nearly Newlywed moments as much as we are!

It’s here! Epcot’s International Food and Wine Festival begins today! I love the different festivals at Epcot for various reasons, but Food & Wine will always be a favorite. The park offers food and drink tastings, speciality paring classes, cooking classes and meet and greets with famous Chefs, concerts, and so much more during the festival!

So…why do I love this festival so much? Have you seen the concert line-up? The Eat To The Beat Concert series offers something for everyone and their taste of music. But, y’all lets be honest….HANSON is a fan favorite that comes to the Festival annually and my inner 13 year old LOVES it! Helihubby not so much.

Since it starts today we figured sharing some of our favorite finds of 2017 would be a fun way to celebrate Throwback Thursday and the kick-off of the 2018 festival! Join us as we eat and drink around the world!

Epcot is one of three Walt Disney World Parks that guests can walk around the park with an adult beverage in hand. {This might be the main reason it’s the favorite park for us Newly Newlyweds.} Grab a cocktail and make your way eating and drinking around the world, exploring different countries, their rides and little hidden gems! During the Food and Wine Festival, Epcot adds additional countries and speciality spots throughout the park for guests to have even more dining options. What a great opportunity for people to taste samplings of dishes that may night otherwise have a chance to try!

Morocco– Chocolate Baklava: Rolled Phyllo Dough with Toasted Almonds and Dark Chocolate Sauce {This was my FAVORITE snack of the 2017 Festival and YES they have it again in 2018!}

Ahhh! Are you hungry now? We are and can not wait to arrive back at Epcot next week! Are you heading to the Festival?

What are you most looking forward to trying this year? It’s not on our Whole30 plan (which we are trying to stick to since we are running the Food & Wine 10k in November) but we will be trying the Belgian Waffle with Warm Chocolate Ganache and Whipped Cream from Belgium, Le Cellier’s Wild Mushroom Beef Filet Mignon with Truffle-Butter Sauce from Canada and Florida Beer Company Passport Triple Chocolate Milk Stout from Cape Canaveral, FL from Craft Drafts. YUMMM!

Let the countdown to our return to the Happiest (and tastiest) Place On Earth begin!

See You Real Soon!

We hope you’re enjoying your Newly Newlywed or Nearly Newlywed moments as much as we are!

Two of my favorite things in one place; my sorority, Zeta Tau Alpha and Disney. Oh be still my heart. I can’t help but do a little happy dance.

It’s a Way Back Wednesday with Walt- join me as I reminisce on my latest Walt Disney World trip with two of my ZTA Sisters during our National Conference in Orlando this July.

The three of us girls were like kids in a candy store as we arrived at the Magic Kingdom for the Rope Drop and our day at the Happiest Place On Earth. It had been years for both AM and EB since they had last been to Magic Kingdom. The girls used their favorite Key To The World Travel Planner for their One-Day Base Park Ticket and at our 30 day countdown mark I had our Fast Passes booked for three of the park’s busiest rides: Peter Pan’s Flight, Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

On our todo list? EVERYTHING, but first we were off to get Mickey Ears and meet the main mouse himself!

We rode almost every ride in Magic Kingdom and sampled (almost) every Instagramable snack. Dole Whips, check! Hey, it’s fruit! It makes a for a healthy Disney Breakfast, right?

A mid-afternoon Frozen Mickey, check! The perfect sweet treat to help you cool off while standing in line at Haunted Mansion.

It wouldn’t be a TOY STORY LAND Grand Opening celebration without Toy Story Cookie-dough Pops before boarding our rocket ship and taking off with Buzz to fight the evil Emperor Zurg!

I am sure you know, Orlando is brutally hot in July. To help us break up the day and refresh a bit, since we were “rope dropping and never stopping,” I got us lunch reservations at Jungle Navigation Skipper Canteen. It is a must for a long day at Magic Kingdom and my FAVORITE in the park restaurant. We shared the S.E.A. Shu Mai, Orinoco Ida’s Cachapas, Perkins Thai Noodles (my favorite- they are spicy), and Falls Family Falafel. We also tried, but is not pictured, “Tastes like Chicken” Because it is!

Before we knew it, our day at the Magic Kingdom was quickly coming to an end.

After lunch we took in a few more rides, danced to the Move-it-Shake-it Parade down Main Street U.S.A. and made sure to see the Happily Ever After Fireworks before making our way back to the Transportation and Ticket Center and head home.

See…even at 32 without kids Disney World can be a magical and I’d love to help you plan your vacation just like I did for AM and EB! Shoot us a message and I’ll be happy to get you on your way to the Happiest Place On Earth!

See You Real Soon!

We hope you’re enjoying your Newly Newlywed or Nearly Newlywed moments as much as we are!

Welcome to Borgo Argenina, a truly magical stone estate in the hills of Chianti.

Visiting Borgo Argentina was an experience like no other and my absolute favorite part of our Newly Newlywed Italian Adventure. The 998 AD Peasant Farmer home had been abandoned for years when, now owner, Elena Nappa, discovered the property while on a holiday from Milan. A former fashion designer, Elena quickly fell in love with the estate. She knew in her heart it was a calling for her to restore the hamlet into a stunning seven room Bed & Breakfast and that is exactly what she did. Her story of how she transformed this property without electricity and running water into a fully functioning Bed and Breakfast is really remarkable.

Adam and I drove from Florence to the Chianti hamlet. Passing thousands of grape vines and olive trees, around curvy bends, narrowingly escaping head on collisions with Italian drivers and through the rolling hills to get to Elena’s. Upon arrival at Borgo Argenina we were greeted by Elena’s four-legged friends, Giuseppina and Pasqualina along with other guests who were sitting on the grand stone patio, enjoying a glass of vino taking in the sunset over Chianti.

“Welcome! You must be new! Elena is upstairs in the Kitchen.” one guest said. Instantly we were family.

Our journey at Borgo Argenina began as we passed the bell to ring for Elena if you arrive after hours and opened the original wooden double doors adorned with iron locks and handles.

Once inside the main house, up the narrow stone stairway with one tiny window over looking the garden, we found Elena, tooting around her kitchen.

She grabbed the keys and escorted us to the Piccola Suite, our home for the next four days. We had a quaint sitting room adjacent to our bedroom, an attached private bath and views of the rolling Chianti Hills and Elena’s garden.

Each room is equip with a mini bar and tea kettle that is refreshed daily, wifi and a hairdryer. (Yay! One less thing to pack!) There is no air conditioning at Borgo Argenina, thankfully, even during the Summer months the nights were cool and a flowing breeze filled our room. Elena took us downstairs, showed us the Parlor and Breakfast Room before heading outside.

After a tour of our suite and parts of the property we sat down with Elena on the stone patio outside. She shared some of her favorite places in Tuscany with us over a glass of wine.

We chatted for what felt like hours of friends catching up before we realized the time and that we were late for a supper reservation she made for us at Giorgio’s. We will share that experience with y’all a little later. Delizioso!

Every morning, Borgo Argenina guests are greeting to a beautiful breakfast spread prepared by two of Elena’s three employees. On the daily menu: Fresh Coffee, homemade Yogurt, local meats, cheeses and honey, fresh fruit, and varieties of Elena’s Coffee Cake.

Elena also invites her guests to a nightly Cooking Class at Borgo Argenina. If you’re staying with her, this is a MUST! It was by far the best food we had during our time in Italy and if she had extra room we would have taken the class a second time! Each guest is gifted with her Borgo Argenina Cookbook-filled with Elena’s family recipes and traditional Italian dishes. The time we spent in the kitchen with Elena and other guests was a highlight of our trip. Pop over next Monday to see what was on our Menu!

Y’all, I really can not express how much HeliHubby and I enjoyed our time at Borgo Argenina. It is in a perfect location to be a “home base” for Montepulciano, Volterra, Siena and more little Tuscan Wine towns. It’s truly an enchanting, one of a kind Italian escape. Elena is absolutely wonderful. She is warm, welcoming and lovely. We felt like we had known her for years and yet we just met. Leaving we all three got a bit teary eyed as we said our “goodbyes.” I don’t know when the Newly Newlyweds will get to return to Chianti to visit Elena, but I do know HeliHubby and I both left a piece of our hearts in Tuscany at Borgo Argenina. It is just magical.

If you’re considering a Tuscan Vacation I highly reccomened you consider Borgo Argenina as your home. Have questions about the hamlet or want help planning your vacation? Feel free to message us- I am happy to help!

Fino all prossima volta, we hope you’re enjoying your Newly Newlywed or Nearly Newlywed moments as much as we are!

If you didn’t see our Tuesday Travels post, you missed out! We started the story telling journey of our recent Newly Newlywed trip to Italy. Over the next few days and weeks we’re going to share all the details from our two week trip across the pond.

We’ve got the perfect post for a Wednesday with Walt. If you’ve been following us for any link of time, you’ve caught on to my love for Disney. Wouldn’t you know, Disney just follows us wherever we go?

Skipping a few days into our trip from where we left off, while in Florence HeliHubby just happened to find me a Disney Euro Store! Ah! Y’all my heart was oh-so happy!

No surprise to us Disney fans, the store was full of Disney Magic. Disney movie music filled the air, all in Italian of course. As soon as I opened the doors and walked in, I immediately knew I was not in the typical Disney Store. The decor was very Italian. Ceilings painted with Roman Disney Characters, paintings hung the walls featuring iconic Italian landmarks and of course hidden Mickeys everywhere!

If you’re a Disney fan roaming the streets of Florence make sure to pop by Via dei Calzaiuoli, 69/71/R, 50123 and say hello to Mickey and the gang! The store is in the same building as Hotel Maxim. {Feel free to pick up your favorite Newly Newlyweds a surprise too!}

Have you found another International Disney Store? Which is your favorite location? We’d love to hear all about it!

Join us tomorrow as we Throwback to more of our Italian Adventures!

Until next time, we hope you’re enjoying your Newly Newlywed or Nearly Newlywed moments as much as we are!

A little over a month ago Adam had the grand idea for a Newly Newlywed Adventure. We began our search of where the road- or friendly skies- would take us. Originally, our plan was to return to Hawaii.

The Big Island and Kauai were still on our Wish List, but with the recent volcano eruption (and taking a helitour over the volcano was a “must do”) we opted to save that vacation for another time.

We spend days researching. Toyed with Iceland, Africa and Australia. It wasn’t until I put my Key To The World Travel Travel Planner skills to the test and happened to find a fantastic deal to Italy, we just couldn’t pass up.

So, with three weeks until take-off the planning began! Once we decided on Italy, we were both craving Italian food. Naturally, we had to have our “planning meetings” at Antico Pizza Napoletana. (AKA: The BEST pizza in Atlanta!)

Unlike most of our vacations, this trip was very unplanned. Besides knowing where we were staying, we had no other set plans. [I’ll just go ahead and put it out there…Being the planner that I am, I did a really good job with being flexible. Just ask Adam.}

July 3, 2018 our bags were packed and we said arrivederci to the USA onboard a Delta PINK RIBBON Plane.

We flew in style- Delta One -for our first 8 hour leg of the trip to Amsterdam. Such fun cheers-ing to vacation and our time away! Our cabin mates just happened to be The Mingos and their entourage. After a 4 hour layer over in Amsterdam, a short 1.5 hour KLM flight and two landing attempts later (the Florence runway is quite small) we arrived in Italy about noon local time on July 4th.

We grabbed our luggage and headed to the Rental Car Center…that’s right, you read that correctly. We decided to rent a car and drive in Italy! That was an adventure in itself!

{Travel Tip: BE CAREFUL if you decide to rent a car internationally. Even though we used Enterprise and booked the car in advance, they tried to over charge us and cut our days on the rental. Thankfully Adam had copies of the agreement stored in his E-Mail and I had printed copies with me. Slightly stressful, but we survived and so glad we ended up having a vehicle to get around. Also, keep in mind the rental car center is made up primarily of trailers all on gravel roads. It can be a bit of a work out pulling your luggage to and from your car.}

Two bags full of clothes, two over sized wine suitcases and 4 carry on bags later the Newly Newlyweds were ready to hit the road and head to our first stop, Borgo Argenina. A truly magical Bed & Breakfast we cannot wait to tell you all about!

Follow along our Italian Adventure over the next days and weeks to come. We’re so looking forward to reminiscing to our time in Italy as we share it with y’all! We can’t wait to return to the beauty of Tuscany someday.

Until next time, we hope you’re enjoying your Newly Newlywed or Nearly Newlywed moments as much as we are!